ARCHIVED - Spain to test safety of Pfizer as second Covid jab for patients having received one dose of AstraZeneca
Many under-60s in Spain have received one AstraZeneca dose but are no longer eligible for the second
In the light of the ongoing concerns over the safety of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine the Ministry of Health in Spain has announced a testing program to ascertain the viability and effectiveness of substituting the second jab of the product with a dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
If the tests provide encouraging results, this would affect those people in Spain who are under the age of 60 and have already received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, since after very rare cases of blood clots related to the immunization procedure were found the product is no longer being used in this age group and is instead only being given to those aged 60-69.
Many thousands of essential services workers such as teachers, police, firemen, Protección Civíl volunteers, dentists, pharmacists etc have all been vaccinated with AstraZeneca, and in most cases have only received one dose, but as they are below the age of 60 will not be receiving a second.
The clinical testing of the innovative procedure is being organized as a matter of urgency by the Carlos III health institute in Madrid, working on the basis that in theory there is no reason why administering Pfizer instead of AstraZeneca as the second dose should be harmful. At the same time, it should boost the production of Covid antibodies.
The testing program goes by the name of "Combivacs", and if successful it could result in the mixing of vaccines which was rejected by the Spanish government a few weeks ago becoming standard procedure.